by jksander » Thu Dec 29, 2016 5:39 am
The conference looks solid this year, though none of us are ranked as of yet. Xavier and St. John's made it through the pre-conference slate with 7-3 and 7-2 records respectively; the Musketeers' RPI is 17th, while St. John's has the 34th-best RPI in the country. Eight of ten teams in the conerence have top-100 RPIs; ours (30th) is ranked 2nd at this point despite our 5-4 start. No one in the conference has a losing record, though we and Marquette, each 5-4, are tied for the worst non-conf start. Seton Hall (6-3, #132 RPI) and Georgetown (7-4, #102 RPI) are at the bottom based purely on strength of schedule, but I suspect all that will even out as we start bruising on each other. We'll soon know who the best teams truly are.
December 26, 2016
Providence (6-3, 0-0) @ Butler (5-4, 0-0)
We started out as poorly as I've seen at home this year, letting the Friars rush out to a 7-16 lead on us five minutes in, after holding them tough for the first ninety seconds in a quick start. We shot well, however, and were able to keep up with them in a shootout. But defensively we lacked tenacity and I was frustrated to see us not willing to fight hard on both ends with consistency. With 8:20 to go we trailed 20-23, I got a bit too animated coming off the bench late in the half and got called for a technical, and things went downhill from there. We played like crap down the stretch and went into the half trailing Providence 36-52. And I was about ready to blow my goddamned top.
We clawed our way back to within nine with 12:13 to go in the game, trailing the Friars 47-56. Tavaras Watkins nailed a three to make it a 50-57 game with 11:39 remaining, but we collapsed again and let the Friars run out to a 52-66 lead with just 8:45 left on the clock. We'd get as close as six late before crumbling under our own ineptitude. We lost 63-75 and it might as well have been by 50.
Player of the Game: Tavaras Watkins (25 pts 2 reb 2 ast 2 stl 2 blk)
Honorable Mention: Damion Phillips (6 pts 11 reb 2 stl 1 blk)
December 29, 2016
Butler (5-5, 0-1) @ Villanova (6-4, 0-1)
Tavaras Watkins opened things up with a three-pointer early, and Demond Anderson banked in a sweet jumper to tie things up 5-5 in a tight battle with Villanova early, 16:04 remaining in the first half of this one. But 'Nova went on a 7-2 run and opened things up over the next two minutes, and we battled to keep it close. Jerry Walter threw down a monstrous dunk with 11:15 remaining that put us within three, down 12-15, but they were firing on all cyllinders and kept us off our game. With 9:13 to go we trailed 15-22, and we went into the break tailing the Wildcats 26-43. From there? Blowout City. We lost 51-85 and proved that we flat-out can't win on the road.
This is going to be a long conference season …
Player of the Game: Tavaris Watkins (9 pts 2 ast 1 stl)
Honorable Mentions: Damion Phillips (6 pts 9 reb 2 ast 1 blk); Jerry Walter (6 pts 4 reb 1 stl 3 blk)
January 2, 2017
St. John's (7-4, 0-2) @ Butler (5-6, 0-2)
We played like **** to start this one … there's no way around it! Trailing 4-15 on your own court five minutes in, that's ****. But our strong free-throw shooting and good scoring from Jerry Walter and Damion Phillips at least kept us within striking distance, down 17-21 with 10:45 remaining in the half. Then they rattled off two threes and it was like a kick to the balls. The way we played the rest of the half says we're the worst team in the Big East, and I can't find a way to get through to these guys that if we get on a poor shooting stretch, we have to be able to DEFEND.
We went into halftime down 36-54 and we went on to lose 62-88. Harris and Watkins were both completely ineffective for much of the night, our TEAM LEADERS, which blows my mind. They left this game wide open to be stolen, and seemed to do nothing to fight it. I plan to experiment accordingly … if you're not putting out effort, you may not keep your starting spots. No one's safe if we can't find ways to win!
Player of the Game: Damion Phillips (17 pts 4 reb 1 ast 1 stl)
Honorable Mentions: Jerry Walter (13 pts 8 reb 2 ast 2 blk); Brett Hart (10 pts 3 reb 1 ast 1 blk)
January 5, 2017
Butler (5-7, 0-3) @ Seton Hall (9-3, 3-0)
We're the only win-less team in the conference, and now we're facing down the current leader of the pack on their court, the only loss-less team in the conference. They haven't lost a game on their court all year, they're on an eight game winning streak, and that their RPI is 66th in the nation doesn't mean much – ours is 48th and look at us! So we went into this one knowing we had our work cut out for us.
It was. We trailed 10-26 with 12:54 to go in the first half, and we could have completely given up at that point. I mean, Seton Hall shot the **** lights out, so it wasn't like we were playing terribly, we were just flat-out outmatched. By halftime I was amazed we only trailed 39-54, considering Seton Hall had out-shot us 65.5% to 52.0% from the field and gone 7 of 9 from beyond the arc. How the hell do you stop that?
Well, we just continued to slug it out. Damion Phillips had a stunning dunk with 15:44 to go in the game that brought us within 12 points, down 46-58, and Russell Harris brought us even closer with a brilliant three-pointer seconds later that made it a 49-58 game with 15:00 to go! We kept it within ten for much of the remainder of the game, but we were still out-gunned no matter how you shook it. We may have played our best game of the season, but we still lost 74-89.
Player of the Game: John Perry (13 pts 5 reb 1 ast 2 stl)
Honorable Mentions: Damion Phillips (14 pts 1 reb 2 ast 1 stl 2 blk); Tavaras Watkins (13 pts 4 reb 1 stl)
